Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Short bus trips

My friend stayed in Punggol and work in Raffles Hospital (next to Bugis Junction). If he takes the MRT, he has to make two transfers at Dhoby Ghaut and at Raffles City.

He thought that it wuld be more convenient to take the MRT to Dhoby Ghaut and to change to a bus to Bugis Junction, which is just a few stops away.

The trouble is: what bus to take?

I searched the Public Transport Guide (available from Popular Bookstore for $6.50). There are 18 bus services passing the nearest bus stop to Dhoby Ghaut. There are 17 bus services passing the two bus stops next to Raffles Hospital. By checking through these two long lists, I was able to find two bus services that connect these two bus stops.

Most people buy the bus guide published by Transit Link. It is dificult to use and will take a long time to search for the connecting service. No wonder many people are reluctant to take public transport.

I hope that, in the revamped public transport system, there will be 2 to 4 local services to connect each town to the nearest MRT stations and bus interchanges. This will encourage short trips on the buses. With fewer services, the waiting time will also be shorter.

4 comments:

eng60340 said...

your friend can consider dropping at tekka mall and taking a bus from there.

problem is that the morning rush hours makes the buses very packed.

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i would like to find out the best way to get to raffles hospital from punggol too :D

Tan Kin Lian said...

Thanks to eng60340. I checked the Public Transport Guide and found that bus services 48 and 57 make good connections from Little India MRT (Tekka Mall) and Raffles Hospital (opposite Landmark Hotel).

Tan Kin Lian said...

REPORT FROM MY FRIEND

Hi Mr. Tan,

I took the bus from Little India MRT to Raffles Hospital. I think it is actually more efficient.

Bus no. 48 was not really crowded and I even managed to get a seat. (not sure if this is usually the case).

The bus stops exactly in front of our office. That really saves me lots of walking.

However, I did not managed to get much time savings as the waiting time for the bus was slighter longer than that of the train.

I am going to try this method for a few more days to see if the results are consistent.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

hi,

You may want to use IE and point to www.can.com.sg. The activeX plug in is very good for navigating singapore map, especially if you're looking for suitable HDB flat(read, north south facing). Move the mouse cursor above dots(a.k.a bus stands) along the road shows what bus service available.

Alternatively, you can use the Journey Planner from SBS transit, http://www.sbstransit.com.sg/index.aspx?s=jp

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